It's a wrap!

We’re signing off after an action-packed of day of shadowing staff and speaking to patients at Northwick Park Hospital.

A day in A&E showed us the incredible work of staff in one of the capital’s busiest hospitals, who currently have to juggle providing emergency care with the added pressure of freeing up beds for incoming patients.

16:23

8,000 steps in just FOUR hours

Our reporter Katy took 8,000 steps in just FOUR hours while shadowing staff in Northwick Park hospital A&E department today.

If Katy’s movement’s are anything to go by then A&E staff on 12-hour shifts would walk at least 24,000 steps per DAY.

John Ross, advanced clinical practitioner in training - "A lot of our population is very unwell.”

John Ross is a trainee advanced clinical practitioner who spent the day working in resus. He said:

“It’s usually full capacity throughout the day.

“There are a lot of patients in A&E that need to be moved elsewhere, they end up in here for quite a while, so they end up in the corridor unfortunately when we’ve not got space for them anywhere else - which nobody thinks is ideal.”

When asked what the NHS or the hospital can do to help ease the pressure of the current winter crisis he added:

“Unfortunately most of the patients that come to A&E have to come to A&E.

“The hospital isn’t big enough but I don’t think it can be big enough for the patients that we have.

“ Things can always be more efficient at times but a lot of our population is very unwell.

“I love my job here, I wouldn’t be here otherwise and as trainees a lots still fresh for us, we still smile a lot.”

15:29

“We simply don’t have enough beds and that can be so stressful" - Emergency department physician associate, Hennel Agrawl

Hennel Agrawal, physician associate (PA) in the emergency department, rotates between A&E and the Clinical Decisions Unit (CDU) and spent today in CDU.

“It’s really busy here in the Clinical Decisions Unit today, all our beds are full. There’s a lot of complex injuries here and every winter it just gets busier and busier.

“The staff here are all happy though, but we do have a lot of pressure on us, and that is increasing. In the past three years the pressure has built on NHS staff.

“We simply don’t have enough beds and that can be so stressful. Sometimes I feel like I can’t do my 100% best because of the lack of beds. We’re dealing with more and more people with not enough resources.

There’s more schools and housing in the area, which leads to more patients coming into hospital.

“My feeling is that the NHS is the best thing our country has and it would be a really sad for it not to function as well as it could be. I love my job, and I hope that we can keep going.

“At the moment, there simply isn’t enough movement in the hospital, I don’t know why the patients aren’t movement through fast enough.”

Name this dummy

He’s a hi-tech training dummy used to run medical scenarios for training.

Even top medics need training (Image: Katy Clifton)

Remarkably he has no name, so we’ve decided to change that. Please comment below or email qasim.peracha@trinitymirror.com if you have a suggestion.

*blank* is being used for training at the department (Image: Katy Clifton)

While he’s a brilliant piece of kit, he didn’t half give Katy a scare when she stumbled across him.

I nearly required medical attention after being so scared walking into their in the dark and spotting him!

What should we name him? (Image: Katy Clifton)

14:12

Northwick Park's A&E at 2pm

Here is how the A&E is looking this afternoon.

74 patients are currently in the department

56 of these patients have been treated

The wait to see a doctor is currently two hours and two minutes

The wait for a hospital bed is eight hours and 15 minutes.

88% of patients were seen withing four hours. The government target is 95%.

14:09

The Resus Ward

Northwick Park’s resus ward was moved into in 2014.

The NHS website says:

The resuscitation area is used for the treatment of trauma victims, those requiring life threatening illness or injury and those who require direct monitoring and immediate life/limb saving interventions.

14:04

The Starrs of A&E

Katy has been hearing unanimous praise for the Starrs of Northwick Park’s A&E.

Short Term Assessment Rehabilitation and Reablement Services are responsible for getting patients who have been assessed home as quickly and safely as possible.

Lead Physiotherapist Jignesh Patel spoke to Katy:

We’re keeping patients safe and we’re keeping them out of hospital, which is the ultimate goal.

I believe we save about 900 beds a year which saves the trust a lot of money.

13:54

A&E Health Check

So what is the situation right now?

Resus is still full

The last three admissions had bad chest infections

A patient at the hospital who suffered a cardiac arrest has been brought to Resus but is alive and speaking.

13:47

Paramedics say they are "feeling the pressure"

This is Bridey Sabin and Georgina Fern, paramedics for the London Ambulance Service.

They’ve brought patients in and are now waiting to hand them over before they can get back out.

It’s definitely been busy since December and we’ve been feeling the pressure, but it always gets busy this time of year.

Bridey Sabin and Georgina Fern, paramedics (Image: Katy Clifton)

13:41

Person waiting in corridor

Our reporter Katy Clifton has spotted one person having to wait in the corridor at Northwick Park’s A&E.

13:39

"The NHS is a godsend and anyone who says otherwise needs to be schooled" says first time A&E user

This is Ronald Matthias, of South Harrow.

“I had a dizzy spell at 12 o’clock last night. My son brought me here at around 7am, I didn’t sleep at all.

“Since I’ve been here, I have been treated really well. This is my first time in A&E since I moved here in 1964.

“Honestly, the NHS is a godsend and anyone who says otherwise needs to be schooled.

“The staff are a credit to this hospital and have made me feel comfortable throughout.

“It’s something we should all be proud of, my experience here has been fantastic from start to finish.”

This is the first time Ronald Matthias has visited A&E since moving to the country in 1964 (Image: Katy Clifton)

13:10

"Everyone from the doctors to the cleaners were wonderful" - Patient Anita Benson describes A&E experience

The reps in the meeting now have to go to their departments and chase up nursing and residential homes and packages of care to make sure the people are discharged in the near future, they chase it and nursing homes/res homes come in to check they’re okay to be discharged.

On non-urgent operations in January, Ms Arshiya Khan, Chief Operating Officer at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, said:

“As part of our plans for winter, we significantly reduce the number of routine operations planned.

“This allows us to free up capacity for our sickest patients.

“Of the 3,336 elective procedures carried out to date since the start of January, six day case operations have been cancelled.

“All six patients have been given new dates for their procedure and we apologise to those patients affected. We have not cancelled any cancer or urgent operations.”

11:11

10 flu symptoms to be aware of

People suffering these flu symptoms this winter have been urged to stay away from hospitals:

fever (38 degrees centigrade)

shortness of breath or cough

headache

runny nose

sore throat

tiredness

aching limbs

lack of appetite

vomiting and diarrhoea

stomach cramps

11:05

Patients urged to call 111 before going to A&E

At 10.30am there were already 46 patients waiting in A&E and Northwick Park urges patients to call 111 before attending hospital.

11:02

Patients with flu told to keep away

London North West University Healthcare Trust which runs Northwick Park hospital has urged the public to help protect patients from flu this winter by avoiding hospital if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms.

The UK has seen a surge in infections from the influenza virus this year. Across the country, over 3,750 people have been admitted to hospital with the virus so far – but over 4.5 million people are thought to have flu-like symptoms.

In most cases, these symptoms don’t require hospital treatment, but can pass influenza on to people who may be vulnerable to infection.

Since December, the Trust has seen 173 people who have tested positive for flu – with 94 patients at Northwick Park Hospital, and 79 at Ealing Hospital.

Infectious diseases consultant Dr Bill Lynn said:

“Influenza can be dangerous for patients who already require medical treatment.

“None of us would want our loved ones to be put at risk by the virus, and that’s why we’re asking for the public’s support in stopping flu from spreading wherever possible.

“Please help us protect our patients by staying away from hospital if you have two or more flu symptoms.”

The trust is asking patients who have a booked appointment to reschedule it if they experience two or more of ten symptoms commonly associated with flu.

Those planning to visit the hospital to see friends or relatives are also asked to wait until they are symptom-free before coming in, except in an emergency.

Both measures help to reduce the likelihood of spreading the virus, which can have serious consequences for patients who are already unwell enough to need hospital care.

10:51

A day in the life of one of London's busiest A&E departments

We are LIVE today (January 24) bringing you a snapshot from a day in the life of one of London’s busiest accident and emergency departments at Northwick Park hospital.

The Harrow hospital’s accident and emergency department receives 120 to 130 ambulances a day - more than any other in London.

Its A&E and UCC take on average more than 700 patients each day and along with hospitals across the country it is currently coping with the pressures of the NHS winter “crisis”.